Little Lemonies {Yummy Lemon Brownies}

I know, I know, technically I could get in a lot of trouble (you know, from the food blogger police) calling these non-brownie treats brownies. But every once in a while I like to throw caution to the wind and let that be today.

These little lemony brownie bites are so utterly amazing, it won’t really matter what they are called once you fall in love.

The texture is everything soft and cakey and chewy and a little dense. The real lemon flavor comes through in the tart and sweet glaze and compliments that subtle lemon brownie layer in very magical ways.

It really is like a bite of sweet, fresh, lemony heaven.

Easy and quick to whip up, you can serve them at room temperature. But if you decide to chill them first, be prepared to hand them out to neighbors, friends and strangers immediately or else all self-control may be lost.

They are so good chilled, I want to weep. Consider yourself warned.

I was a little caught off guard at how these lovely but simple lemon treats won me over but win me over they did. As in, after tasting 12, I hurriedly cut them into tiny squares, stuffed them in mini muffin tins and sent them straight in to Brian’s office.

And then I missed their presence so deeply, I went and made another batch. They are impossible to resist.

Lemon Glaze:

3/4 cup (2.75 ounces/75 grams) powdered sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8X8-inch aluminum baking pan with parchment so that it hangs over two of the edges (to lift out the bars later – alternately, you can just grease the pan really well and slice them in the pan) and lightly coat the pan and parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl or in a large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the butter, eggs and egg yolk, lemon juice and vanilla.

Stir the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs (the top of the bars should spring back lightly when gently pressed). Don’t over bake or they might be dry.

For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest until smooth and combined.

After the bars have cooled completely in the pan, drizzle the glaze over the top (since the glaze layer is thin, it helps to pour it all across the bars instead of in one puddle before spreading) and use an offset spatula or knife to spread evenly over the bars.

Place the bars in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours to let the glaze set before lifting them from the pan (using the parchment overhang) and cutting into small squares. These taste best chilled, in my opinion, but can be served at room temperature also.

Notes:

The glaze recipe makes a very thin, light layer of sweet, lemony glaze on top of the soft, chewy lemony brownies. If you want more glaze, consider doubling the recipe (just make sure the glaze doesn’t overpower!).

Altogether, you probably need 2-3 large lemons for the recipe to get the 4 tablespoons juice and 1 tablespoon (plus 1/2 teaspoon) zest.

These bars are delicious at room temperature but try them chilled and you may never go back.

I love lemon so this was a recipe I had to try after the perfected lemon bars. They are absolutely delicious and so dangerous. They’re cut into tiny bites and therefore so easy to have just one more bite. Before you know it, you’ve eaten half the pan (at least that’s what happened to me). Yikes.! One of the best lemon deserts ever! If you like lemon, you will love these. Thank you for another amazing recipe Mel!

Delicious! I made these with lime juice and lime zest because lemons are not as easy to find where I live. Baked it in a 9×9 baking pan because I didn’t have an 8×8, they were done at exactly 18 minutes.The only change was that I added an extra tbs of lime juice and a full tsp of lime zest to the glaze because it was too thick and not drippy with the original measurents…may have something to do with the powdered sugar I have available here.Really easy to make and sooo good. Thank you Mel your recipes are the best!

I made these yesterday (I doubled the recipe as my tray is bigger) and they turned out great. I was cooking lunch at the same time, so we only tasted them chilly 🙂 I also roasted some coconut flakes in the pan, spread a little over the icing. Yummy.

I had to add another tablespoon of water to the icing as it was too thick and also too sour.

I had a bit of left batter, so I made 6 muffins on the side, without icing, but with quince jam. I really like that the final baked batter is not that sour and can be used as a base for other recipes as well.

I am not sure how I missed these 2 years ago but I am so upset that I did! In the past 2 weeks I have made 4 batches and I think they may be my new 2nd favorite dessert ( #1 will forever and always be Chocolate Chess Pit). Thank you Mel!!!

Just got done making the Lemonies with my husband, they are now in the oven. The batter is everywhere else too. He tried to take the beaters out of the mixer without unplugging it first. I did not get there in time and wound up lemony myself! He is now cleaning the kitchen. lol Fun times! The batter was delicious, I’m sure the Lemonies will be too.

These are SO GREAT! And fast/easy — even better!
I had to add some extra lemon juice to the glaze; initially it was just a pasty lump and had to be thinned out. Turned out beautifully though!
It was also thrilling to have a recipe that uses a solo yolk — good way to use up yolks for other recipes that only use egg whites.

Mel, these lemony treats are in a class of their own. They are soooo good! I’ve even doubled the recipe and baked in a 9×13 (increased bake time to 30 minutes). They are a winner every time. I appreciate you and all your recipes. I have made many things off your website but don’t respond or thank you nearly enough.

I volunteered to make three desserts for a missionary leadership conference. The first two choices were easy…Texas Sheet Cake and Carrot Cake. What to do for the third one? Go to Melskitchencafe, of course! Yours is the only recipe blog that I would go to to look for a recipe that I planned to use without having tried it once on just my family. These lemon brownies were a huge hit! You haven’t failed me yet! Thanks!

I love lemons and brownies so when I saw this recipe wow and knew I had to make it.

So today I did, excited like crazy but then I was a little saddened as it didn’t turn out how I expected it. It came out more of a cake than a brownie, so I might have done something wrong. Can you please tell me why that is as I’ve just put in the next batch hoping it’ll turn out looking like yours.

These are some good oh my gosh. I juat made then and thought I would share some substitutions I made to make these healthier. I used 1/2 cup oat flour and half unbleached AP flour, used 1/2 cup raw demerara sugar and slightly less than 1/4 cup white sugar. And I still find it a bit too sweet especially with the icing! So you can reduce the sugar if you want to. I added coconut flakes in the batter as well as sprinkled them on top before baking. I only had half a lemon on hand btw, but still managed to squeeze out 3 tbsp lemon juice. I only managed to use aboutique 2 tsp Lemon zest before reserving it for the icing. For the icing I made a plain one, using milk since I had no more lemon juice left and stirred the remaining zest and some coconut flakes into it. After baking the top layer of coconut I sprinkled turned slightly toasted. As a final touch, I toasted more coconut flakes in the oven then sprinkled them over the glaze. It is DIVINE. A great recipe, thank you 🙂

I don’t usually bake things that need to be refrigerated, but, these REALLY are better chilled. The one at room temp was kinda cakey (not in a good way) After chilling the texture was definitely more brownie-ish and it keeps the glaze crunchy. Love them 🙂

Have you or anyone tried this with lime juice vs lemon? I have a half bottle of pure key lime juice in fridge from making pie last week! I am always looking for recipes that use the juice it seems! Thanks!

I made these today for a big Fourth of July potluck and they were a huge hit! I’m passing the recipe out to a lot of people and definitely making these again. My husband and I like them even better than lemon bars. Thank you for another awesome recipe. With your recipes I’m never afraid to try new recipes on company. It’s great!

YUM! I made these for my graduation party and they are sooo good! Someone else said they taste like the crust part of a lemon bar, and that’s the perfect description. They have the perfect lemon flavor. I will definitely make these again!

I’ve already made these twice! It’s such a nice surprise when my finished product looks exactly like the recipe photo!:) Cutting these into small squares is a necessary step…much too delicious to stop nibbling after one or two.

This tastes like a lemon bar without the layer of lemon goo. Which, the cake part is my favorite so thumbs up. I actually got enough juice with 1 large lemon for the brownie part. I had to use a tiny bit of lemon juice concentrate for the glaze, but it worked well. 🙂

I made these and they were very delicious – the texture was great and they were pretty lemony. I served them for a luncheon dessert straight from the fridge. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the glaze — I only added 1/2 cup of icing sugar to the 1 tbsp. juice because it was fairly thick and spreadable but I didn’t think 3/4 cup would be spreadable; and I could taste more sugar than lemon. I actually went back and double-checked that it was only 1 tbsp. of lemon juice. Next time I would probably up the lemon, but clearly I’m the only person with this “problem” so maybe it was just me. Thank you for sharing! I like the raspberry idea.

I made these a few days ago and they turned out great. They were very delicous and quick to make too. I really liked the texture of the these squares. These are a nice alternative to chocolate brownies.

The lemon brownies were a hit at the Bridal Shower and they looked beautiful in the mini muffin wrappers with the raspberry on top 🙂 Loved them chilled too. So yummy!! Thanks again! I wanted to post a picture here but I couldn’t seem to get an option to paste. Is that correct that I can’t post a photo ? Thanks !

So happy the lemon bites worked out, Linda. Thanks for reporting back! I don’t think you can paste a photo, darn it. It would have to be a link that directed us to view the photo somewhere else (like on Facebook or Flickr).

I just made these today and they were amazing! We tasted them slightly warm without the glaze and then also chilled with glaze. Both were amazing – I ate a quarter of the pan!!! I love the idea of putting them in mini muffin wrappers and will definitely do that when I bring these to a gathering. Thank you for this great recipe!

Wow! These were great. Lemon is my favorite flavor and every year my wife makes me something ‘lemony’ for my birthday. Next year I’m lobbying for these again, along with your lemon-chicken-broccoli-penne skillet dish.

I made these yesterday and they were delicious! I had to try them chilled and at room temp to taste the difference. 🙂 I like them both ways but room temp would be my preference – less dense. Thanks, Mel!

Mel! I made the sweet potato taco foil packets for our dinner tonight as well as for two other families and topped it off with these lemon brownies! Delicious!! Thanks for two delicious recipes this week!!

I made a lemon “brownie” from some recipe I found on line a couple of years ago. I thought it was a brilliant idea. Everyone loved it. I wanted to love it, but only just liked it. The texture and flavor weren’t what I thought they should be. When I saw this post and your pics..I couldn’t wait to check it out. Your recipe is completely different than the one I tried so I can’t wait to make these. They look perfect!

I made this last night and cut them into small triangles before drizzling with the lemon glaze. They were perfect and so yummy! I had the last one this morning with a cup of hot tea. It was like a delicious mini scone. Definitely will be making these again soon. Thanks for another great recipe.

Sorry, On e more question. I’m having 30 guests at the Bridal Shower and would like to make these in a 9×13 size pan. Do you think it will work to x 1/2 the recipe or would I need to double it? I don’t want thin brownies .

holy moly!!!!!
Made these last night and brought them to work this AM. EVERYONE is asking for the recipe!! SUPER delish!!! I cut them even a bit smaller into 36 squares. Such the perfect bite of sweet-tart. Thank you so much for posting!!!!!

LEMON, LEMON, LEMON, LEMON!!! Must go to the supermarket and buy LEMONS!!! If I can’t get lemons (expensive in Japan), then maybe I’ll try yuzu….delicious either way. Thanks for another keeper. (Haven’t even made them yet….but pretty sure it goes in the keeper pile)

I love the idea of a fresh raspberry on top – so pretty! The chilling thing is just preference. They are certainly delicious at room temperature but I popped them in the fridge to let the glaze set a bit and couldn’t believe how tasty they were chilled. They are slightly more dense and delicious.

Mel,
You were absolutely inspired to post this today !! I am hosting a Bridal Shower brunch this Saturday, May 16, and I was thinking of making mini lemon curd tarts but I wasn’t “feeling it” since I’m making mini quiche and I thought I don’t want the same look even though one is savory and one is sweet, the crust is so similar. These lemon brownies were EXACTLY what I needed !!!!! I may top each square with a fresh raspberry ( that I was going to use on the tarts) but they look gorgeous just as they are!!!but I am so thankful for you and your blog!!! This post made my day !!!! You made my day Mel !!!!Thank you !!!!!❤️

I’m on vacation but the very day I get home will be the day I bake these! Lemon is my favorite flavor and I’ve made your no bake lemon cheesecake more times than I can count. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!

Yep, sorry about that – there is 3 tablespoons lemon juice in the batter. I just added it to the ingredients list (it was already in the directions). Three tablespoons juice and one tablespoon zest go in the batter, another one tablespoon juice and 1/2 teaspoon zest go into the glaze.

Oh my goodness!! I went to a baby shower ten years ago and there were these sweet little orange tarts soooo similar to this. I have searched and searched for a recipe that could bring about anything like them and this is the closest ever! (I moved soon after the shower and didn’t keep in close contact with the few people I knew there!) If you were to make these with oranges instead, would you recommend any other changes?

I needed 1 lemon the other day but since I was at Costco and didn’t want to stop at another store I bought a huge bag. While eating breakfast I was staring at the bag wondering what to do with all those lemons. Now I know! Thanks!

Oh, yea. Forgot — You rebel! The food blogger police are going to have a difficult day trying to control the traumatic effect on the food blogging world trying to contain the influence of these non-brownies.

Your words, humor and pictures would convince me to absolutely love liver and brain. These look and sound delicious. Good thing you are running miles every week. To keep up with all of this yummy temptation, I think I might need to start a running routine, not for marathons, but so I can make and indulge in every one of Mels’ dessert recipes. 🙂